“You’ll believe a man could fly.” That was the tagline for the 1978 “Superman” movie, made when superhero films were so rare that simply watching someone soar through the sky felt magical.
Today, though, comic-book movies are commonplace, with flight and other superpowers handed out so liberally that even Annette Bening has blasted energy beams from her hands. (That happened in 2019’s “Captain Marvel.” What, you don’t remember?)
James Gunn’s new take on “Superman,” in theaters now, has its fair share of flight scenes and they’re all convincingly done. But the movie’s mission statement has more to do with a pure spirit than a special effect: In the middle of one frenetic action sequence, after noticing a tiny squirrel is in danger of being crushed by debris, Superman leaps into action to rush the animal out of harm’s way.
Sure, you’ll believe a man could fly. But would you believe that man would go to the trouble of saving a squirrel?
“The squirrel moment is probably one of the most debated,” Gunn told me recently. In early test screenings, some audiences were confused about why Superman (David Corenswet) would prioritize a tiny critter when all of Metropolis was in jeopardy. But to Gunn, that was exactly the point: His cleareyed, upbeat incarnation of Superman prizes saving every life, human or not.
“A lot of people were anti-squirrel. They thought it was too much,” he said. “And I think it really comes down to, do you like squirrels or not?”
Gunn’s own answer to that question should come as no surprise, given the empathy he extended to a raccoon in his “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy.
“I love squirrels,” he said. “If a monster’s tail was coming at the squirrel, I would save the squirrel if I could. I’ve done it before: Every day, I’m honking at squirrels on the road.”
Even though he stripped the squirrel moment from one early cut of the film, Gunn ultimately decided that keeping it was fundamental to understanding his main character, who had been portrayed in a much darker fashion by Henry Cavill in recent films like “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” When Corenswet’s Superman saves the squirrel, the message couldn’t be clearer: This is not that.
“It could be seen as Pollyanna today, but Pollyanna’s about the edgiest, most punk-rock thing you can be,” Gunn said. “I think the fine line is finding the humor in a person without making fun of him, because I think it’s honorable the way Superman is. I wish more people were more like that.”
With two other moments Gunn considered cutting from the movie, he also landed on the side of earnest. One involved a scene in which fellow superhero Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) calls Superman by a vulgar name, which felt a little too harsh when Gunn first test-screened the movie and was swapped for a milder word. The other moment his team hotly debated came near the film’s end, when Lex Luthor’s ex-girlfriend Eve (Sara Sampaio) hugs the Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo). Eve’s beauty is obvious to everyone but Jimmy, and in the original cut of the film, he recoils.
“We have versions where Skyler is looking miserable, and honestly, that was my first inclination,” Gunn said. Then he showed the film to the “Cabin in the Woods” director Drew Goddard, who encouraged Gunn to go with an alternate take in which Jimmy smiles instead: “He said, ‘It’s funny that he doesn’t smile, but it’s not that movie.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re right. Let’s put the smile in, it’s sweet.’”
Though Gunn’s earlier movies, like “Super” (2010), exulted in an edgier sense of humor, he now finds it more surprising to swing in the other direction. He was reminded of that recently when doing an interview with Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Lois Lane in the film.
“She was saying some positive things about the way she felt about the movie,” he recalled, “and then she said, ‘I don’t want to come off as too earnest.’ And I said, ‘You know what? Let’s be too earnest. What is wrong with all of us that we have to protect ourselves constantly by being less earnest?’”
Why does Gunn believe we’re so inclined to do that?
“I think because we have our feelings hurt easily, so the impulse is to roll into a ball like a little roly-poly insect,” he said. “But it’s OK to have hurt feelings, or to have any sort of feelings. I think that really is the heart of what the film is.”
Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter and also serves as The Projectionist, the awards season columnist for The Times.
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